“How can one tell? As one stands, one knows the worst. It seems to me very frightful to develop,” she added, with her complete smile.
“One is in for it in one way or another, and one might as well do it with a good grace as with a bad! Since one can’t escape life, it is better to take it by the hand.”
“Is this what you call life?” she asked.
“What do you mean by ‘this’?”
“Saint Peter’s—all this splendor, all Rome—pictures, ruins, statues, beggars, monks.”
“It is not all of it, but it is a large part of it. All these things are impregnated with life; they are the fruits of an old and complex civilization.”
“An old and complex civilization: I am afraid I don’t like that.”
“Don’t conclude on that point just yet. Wait till you have tested it. While you wait, you will see an immense number of very beautiful things—things that you are made to understand. They won’t leave you as they found you; then you can judge. Don’t tell me I know nothing about your understanding. I have a right to assume it.”
Miss Garland gazed awhile aloft in the dome. “I am not sure I understand that,” she said.
“I hope, at least, that at a cursory glance it pleases you,” said Rowland. “You need n’t be afraid to tell the truth. What strikes some people is that it is so remarkably small.”